MAPK1 and liver cancer: DUSP1, a member of the threonine-tyrosine dual-specificity phosphatase family, was first discovered in mouse cells; it was later found that the protein encoded by DUSP1 dephosphorylated the MAP kinases MAPK1/ERK2 in the MAPK signaling pathway.24The Ras/Raf/MAPK signaling pathway was activated in 50 to 100% of human HCC cases and was associated with poor prognosis.25The present study of DUSP1 in liver cancer initially revealed its specific mechanism of inhibiting the development of HCC.